Twenty one months of Dark Age eclipsed my glorious sovereign Indian nation
When the dream of 1947, the pillar of a grand republic, succumbed to a dynasty’s insane obsession
For errant power to dictate free wills and adulated ominous vainglory
Kindled by abysmal servility, on the shaken ethos of a nation, to etch a sordid story

On that ill-starred day of 25th June 1975, another “tryst with destiny”, just a few ticks short of a murky midnight
Emergency decreed, a nation’s soul and right to life, seized by a callous regime, to a dynasty’s brazen delight
What for and why the angst to incarcerate a forsaken state slumbering with a hope for posterity?
State retorted “to safeguard land from internal disturbances”, to a nation’s cohesive hilarity

But the truth roared out the insolent vengeance of that lofty dynasty’s overwhelming pride
That lost to supreme law of land for a devious mandate at the hustings, a verdict it blatantly defied
With a sweet excuse called “emergency”, a treason in fact, to reign in frenzy a vanquished dominion of dread
The nightingale that crooned of candor, this morning dumb it went; can’t warble in a caged land with democracy dead

“The discipline of the graveyard” was the code of those inglorious dusky days and rightly so
For a dynasty resolved to discipline a civilization on the grave of democracy with precedents of the lowest low
A now spineless vicious regime, with wisdoms learnt from a fascist neighbor, dogged to quell free will, in all genres and expressions
Banished myriad mutinous inks, personages and assemblages; at motley Turkman Gates, its cold uncouth henchmen caroused orgies of wholesale repressions

Aghast with the plight of the cherished land they martyred for, a million sublime souls in ineffable pain
Republic born at the cost of their noble blood and now bloodied and “bananad” by an ignoble clan
That, as the world stood stunned, as a swaggering despot, chose to maneuver law; flout nation’s mandate “to rule by decree”
Through monocratic ordinances, its Holy Grail, loads of them, served to a pliant President, like biscuits with tea

If this wasn’t enough a travesty, of nation’s conviction, anti-dynasty local regimes were bulldozed on the remains of a deadened constitution
How insatiable, my lord, could be lust for hegemony, as it set out to rescript the charter of land, alas for hustings fraud, a contemptible flagrant self-absolution
And lasting legacy, “42nd Amendment,” to enslave its letter and spirit, for a pedigree’s interventionism to unparalleled dimensions
Just see how a bloodline is bolstered and imposed on an iconic nation over generations, its hysterias foddered by enduring bootlicking traditions

Bitingly farcical was the state-coerced neutering drive; it alas epitomized the emasculation of a republic of its soul and vigor
To salvage the crux of a ravaged republic, soared the ethos of a brutalized nation, as myriad tones of freedom swelled into a feisty clamor
Tryst after tryst over three decades with liberation, tyranny and yet another upheaval to recoup its forlorn sovereign essence
Weary but unvanquished by a ruthless clan, unbroken chutzpah of a republic, snatched back its due with a duteous persistence

Lastly, a free morning today, as the nightingale drearily tweets, not a jolly coo, but a throbbing requiem
Of the sins of a polity, its lasting scars on time and sundry facades of a dynasty’s atrocious scheme
Of a motherland failed by her own concierges, justice subdued, solemn charter of hope defiled and a promise for posterity belied
Of a civilization persecuted, a democracy enervated while at the altar atop a nation’s grave, an inept lineage deified

“Indira is India, India is Indira”, a dictum of epic absurdities but also indeed the genesis of the catastrophe christened “Emergency”
A dynasty held hostage to power rendering a democracy into a virtual monocracy attributed with no proficiency, low efficiency and high deficiency all suited well to the impotent sycophants’ sufficiency
As travesty of justice would have it, neither the Indiras, nor the Sanjays, nor the Pranabs, nor the Bansis nor the Kamals were arraigned
Oh God! Is democracy a grand joke, a dynasty’s spittoon or a megalomaniac’s ticket to dictate and experiment with power unrestrained?

As we stand four decades away from that historical mishap, a black chapter of democracy that shook the creed of a nation
And ponder, “Was it deserved and is it reserved, this obnoxious aberration?”
Deserved! Yes, as a new democracy then, to learn our hard lessons, realize the polity’s flaws, mend them, strengthen republic, abide by our treasured charter in a priory
Reserved! May be, if a new dogmatic collusion prevails in effecting its domineering designs; if monocracy triumphs over meritocracy from the lofty towers of ivory

For now, the iron-willed nightingale, the spirit of the union, chirrups of peace, brotherhood and love
Weathered many a storm now, many more bound to come, but the spirit outlives tribulations of time with blessings from above

1. “bananad” (verb): refers to rendering of the Indian Democracy into a “Banana Republic”

Conspirators of 1975 emergency:

Indira Gandhi : Former Prime Minister of India. Assassinated on 31st October 1984